{"id":31121,"date":"2019-11-14T13:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T18:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=31121"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:54","slug":"crunch-time-nhra-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2019\/11\/crunch-time-nhra-finals.html","title":{"rendered":"Crunch Time – NHRA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s do or die for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) nitro racers Matt\nHagan and Jack Beckman. They\u2019ve hurled their 11,000-horsepower supercharged\nHEMI\u00ae<\/sup> engine-powered Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat Funny Cars down drag strips from coast to coast\nall season long. Both drivers have seen their share of highs and lows, wins and\ndefeats, celebration and anguish. But now, it comes down to the last race of\nthe 2019 season, the NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Here, every\nrun – whether it\u2019s qualifying or eliminations – will have huge implications for\nboth Hagan and Beckman and their Charger SRT Hellcats in their hunt for the\n2019 NHRA Funny Car World Championship title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"jack<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The guy Hagan and Beckman are chasing is two-time reigning\nFunny Car champion Robert Hight in his Camaro. He\u2019s currently leading the pack\nheading into Pomona and just needs 146 points to claim his third title. The\nDodge Boys are right on Hight\u2019s bumper, with Beckman ready to snatch the lead if\nthe Chevy slips up. With only a 46-point gap between Beckman and Hight, it\u2019s a\nreal dogfight. Beckman can surpass Hight by gaining at least 17 points during\nqualifying and going one round further on race day. If Beckman makes up no\nground on Hight during qualifying, he\u2019ll need to go two rounds further than him\non race day. But for the 2012 Funny Car champ, he\u2019s not sweating the details,\nhe has a great car and a hardworking crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"jack<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty much business\nas usual for me. I\u2019ve been keeping busy with my family, cleaning up in the\ngarage, mailing stuff out to fans. I had a week where I almost didn\u2019t have to\nthink about getting strapped into a racecar. Now that being said, I\u2019ve got a\nton of things that I\u2019m responsible for at Pomona. I am participating in four\ndifferent events, two Friday and two Saturday, and I\u2019m emceeing two of them, so\nI\u2019ve got to do some research, do interviews, be on the phone, make a trip up to\nGlendora before the race weekend, and that\u2019s not a bad thing. It keeps me\noccupied, keeps me focused on something aside from the pressure of the\nchampionship,\u201d said Beckman. \u201cAs far as things go when we get into Pomona, we\nhave to do our best to optimize points starting with the first qualifying\nsession. I think we\u2019ve got a car that\u2019s clearly capable of doing that. We\u2019ve\nbeen No. 1 qualifier three times in the last six events. I think right now\nwe\u2019re clearly a front-runner to contend for the championship, not just in our\npoints position, but in our performance lately. So, my job is to do my job. If\nwe get another opportunity like we had in Vegas where we are paired up with\n(Robert) Hight early, we get a chance to control our own destiny. If we win the\nrace and Robert is not in the final next to us, we win the championship. I\u2019m\nnot looking at Matt (Hagan) or John Force behind us because we want to finish\nfirst; we\u2019re not trying to defend the second-place position. So, our goal right\nnow is to maximize qualifying points, execute perfectly on race day, and hope\nthat the ladder falls in such a way that we pair up with Robert before the\nfinal round.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, Beckman\u2019s a seasoned professional and is mentally prepared to do what he needs to get the job done to put his Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car in the winner\u2019s circle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"matt<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For his teammate Matt Hagan, driver of the Mopar\u00ae<\/sub>\nDodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody, he\u2019s feeling very optimistic going into the\nlast race of the season. Hagan\u2019s only 56 points behind Hight and can make up,\nat most, 23 points during qualifying and 120 on race day. Hagan can drive\naround Hight one of two ways: If he enters race day no more than 59 points\nbehind Hight, he must go two rounds further than Hight. If he enters race day\nmore than 59 points behind Hight, he must go three rounds further than Hight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We\u2019re\nhappy to be in this position where we have a shot right now. The only thing we\ncan do is control our own destiny; do the best job we can and let the points fall\nwhere they may,\u201d said Hagan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"matt<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With\ntwo NHRA Funny Car world championships under his belt, Hagan\u2019s hungry for more.\nHe and his team have fought hard this season and would like to add another\nvictory to their already impressive racing resume. Championships always mean a\nlot to any driver and Hagan\u2019s not done yet in his quest for number three. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach\nchampionship is special in its own way. There\u2019s so much to gain and so much\nemotion. It\u2019s important for us to keep our sponsors happy, and for me, it\u2019s\nimportant that I keep the team happy. It\u2019s just a cool thing when you have a\ngroup of 10 guys, and you all share one common goal, and it takes everyone\npulling their weight to achieve that goal. We\u2019ve won four races so far this\nyear, but winning a fifth race and the championship would be a great way to\nstart us off next year. We want to be able to share in this moment with our\npartners, some have won with us before, and for others, it would be their first\nchampionship,\u201d commented Hagan. \u201cEach season and each race is unique. There are\nalways different challenges and circumstances, no matter the situation. I\u2019m in\na very different position than I was in 2011 and 2014, but no matter the season\nor situation, there will always be some sort of adversity you need to overcome\nin order to win it. Obviously, when you go into Pomona in first, that\u2019s a great\nfeeling, but unless you have a huge points lead, you really can\u2019t breathe easy\nuntil you\u2019re standing on the stage holding the big trophy, especially now with\nit being points-and-a-half. I\u2019m just happy we\u2019re in the position where we\u2019re\nstill in the running and have a legitimate shot at coming out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"matt<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, it\u2019ll come down to the last race of the year to see who\u2019ll claim the world championship. With some luck and skill, one of our Dodge\/\/Mopar DSR drivers and their Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car will claim that victory. You can share the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat by tuning into FS1 this weekend for all the racing action from the NHRA Finals in Pomona. Coverage begins Friday (November 15) with the Live Nitro Qualifying session from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm ET with Sunday\u2019s elimination (November 17) starting at 3:00 pm and running to 7:00 pm ET. So don\u2019t miss the chance to get your last fill of burning rubber and nitro for the year and maybe see Dodge and Mopar claim another NHRA Funny Car world championship!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"two<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s do or die for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) nitro racers Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman. They\u2019ve hurled their 11,000-horsepower supercharged HEMI\u00ae engine-powered Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae Hellcat Funny Cars down drag strips from coast to coast all season long. Both drivers have seen their share of highs and lows, wins and defeats, celebration and anguish. But now, it comes down to the last race of the 2019 season, the NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Here, every run – whether it\u2019s qualifying or eliminations – will have huge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":31130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[528,849,615],"class_list":["post-31121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-drag-racing","tag-dsr","tag-nhra"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/2019finalsfeature.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31121"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31143,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31121\/revisions\/31143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}